Hide Article Text (OCR)
JURYMEN FAILEDTO FIND VERDICTDeliberated Over Five Hours on theConspiracy Charge AgainstMr. J. H. RobertsAFTER a deliberation of over fiveto tlioifrs the jury failed to find a vcr-#diet in the Job. II; Roberts case which came up for hearing in the SupremeCourt vesterdav.The trial, which was for conspiracy .to defraud an insurance company, wabegun before the Chief Justice and a special jury yesterday morning andwas not concluded until 3 o’clock this%,morning when the jury returned into court announcing that they had failed to obtain a verdict. fojubyMRa\nesiKvanvisiThe evidence in the case was given by the Crown witnesses the accused offering no defence except that of his counsel, whose defence was made up of facts adduced during the cross examination of the Crown witnesses.The evidence oi the ' Crow 11 wasixviceeveforAK mpurely circumstantial and consisted in endeavoring to prove that while the accused may not have taken part inthe original conspiracy he became amci to t Moparty to it, by paying off his crews onthe assumption that there webc 1550 quintals of fish on board the sclir. Henry M. Stanley when she was lost while on the other hand he was re-■ML.adcciving an insurance claim for 2176 quintals alleged, in the protest, to have been 011 hoard. *'prefa HiTlie■njuI-Could Not Be ProvenThough it could not he proven that the accused had anything to do with the making of a false tally book, the Crown considered that it was clear'1I hesCo.now that he must have had knowledge thereof before the insurance claimnes 1 ie thirb u r hiswas paid.The foregoing evidence was cmbodi ed in the address to the jury, by W.R. Howley, K.C., Counsel for the }Crown which address lasted an hour. I*'\a cahasstai ; willIn an address of about the same du-t Cr 11‘ration W..J. Higgins, counsel for the J s,(j( accused made a very earnest defence using the evidence secured during them •cross examination of witnesses, and arguing that as the accused had been .some fifty miles away from Captain Harrison the scene of the conspiracy, at the time of the said conspiracy andtherefore could not be implicatedtherein. '^1Ta. mTat 1Charged The JuryHis Lordship, the Chief Justice, began to charge the jury at 9.30 p.m. andoccupied half an hour reviewing theevidence in the case.At 10 p.m. the jury retired and re-: ^turned at 1 o’clock this morning, an- at ‘nouncing through their, foreman, Mr. Thomas Pope, that they could not | *agree upon a verdict.After a further charge by the Chief* / 1 1 ’ ft . •*I . A|*!||' * * llwl'y' • - ■ , j';. 1 'Justice they retired again in the hope of reaching a decision. Shortly after 3 o’clock they re-entered court witji-out having found a verdict and were thereupon dismissed by the Chief Justice. ! !The court intimated that a new trialwould take place on Friday ,and ir the meantime ^ail was granted the prisoner furnishing bonds in the sumof $5000 and Messrs. Sellars and Tcm-pleman in the sum of $2,500 each.que'Im.TatHOC’rhas
Newspaper Details
St Johns Daily Star GS
St Johns, Newfoundland, CA
Wed, May 03, 1916
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA 26 Jul 2019
Other Publications Near St Johns, Newfoundland
St Johns Plaindealer
St Johns Morning Courier
St Johns Daily News
St Johns Evening Telegram
St Johns Daily Star GS
